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My Thirteen Year Old Wants Her Room Back

I use my thirteen year old daughter’s bedroom as the daycare nap room.

We are a family of four and live in a three bedroom single story home. Our home also happens to be my place of business with four daycare children under the age of two. Honestly, I wish it was a four bedroom home so that I could have a spare bedroom to utilize as the daycare kids napping room. I really like the idea of having a separate sleeping space for the daycare kids. They know that when they go in that particular room that it is time to go to sleep. My only other option is to have their sleeping area in the playroom. I know other daycares and infant centers that do this but I always feel like the daycare kids get better sleep and aren’t disturbed as much in a separate bedroom. This article proves my point, a designated napping area is a necessity in any infant room. Wow and I just read in that same article that some states require separate napping rooms. It is amazing how other states have so many different rules, but I don’t think California makes this a requirement.

I have to admit that the title of this blog post is somewhat misleading.

My daughter hasn’t complained much about it but I know she would appreciate having her own personal space, a room not used for daycare. It would be ridiculous of me to think otherwise. The most complaints I got out of her was that the pack-n-plays creak at night and sometimes she trips over them. Of course, days after she told me that, I ended up tripping over the pack-n-play wheels. So I can vouch for her that it hurts like the dickens. Also, I know that the pack-n-plays take up a lot of space, and having four pack-n-plays in her room is just not realistic thinking any more. Of course, there is the option to collapse and store them everyday but the fact remains I am still utilizing her space and that just doesn’t sit right with me. Oh and there’s also the glorious smell of poop usually gifted at naptime that I forgot to mention.

So how can I make the nap area work in the playroom?

I Googled a little bit for help on this topic. And found that I do follow a lot of these tips for getting my daycare kids to sleep except for number five. Number five states to make the room as dark as possible. With the playroom being a wide open room I’ll have to figure out a way to block out some light. I’m thinking some blackout curtains to separate the playroom from the sleeping area. And while I’m at it some blackout curtains for the windows too. The curtains separating the room, blocking out distractions, and cutting down on the light that enters the room should help considerably. Now if I can just stop the phone calls and solicitors from knocking at my door right at naptime…then I’m golden!

Curious if any of my readers have the nap area in the playroom and how this setup works for you? Please feel free to leave a comment below.

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Interestingly enough, I'm a home daycare provider at Shadow Oaks Daycare in Thousand Oaks, California. Before Shadow Oaks Daycare, I worked at a promotional advertising company in the advertising specialty industry as a System Analyst and Cost Accountant. On my spare time I like to create websites using WordPress.